December proves to be warm yet wet

December was slightly warmer - by 1.4 degrees Celsius - than the previous year's, although the average temperature of 14.2°C was almost exactly like the average for the past 30 years.

The highest temperature recorded was a balmy 18.8°C on December 18; however, this was not a record. The highest temperature ever recorded at the Airport's Met Office in December was 24.3°C in 1963.

The lowest temperature measured last month was 7.7°C on December 22, again not as extreme as the lowest temperature ever observed at Luqa in December, which was 3.6°C in 1967.

In the 12 days that it rained last month, 106.6 millimetres of rain were measured on the airfield, eight millimetres more than the average for December for the past 30 years.

A similar amount of rainfall was recorded at Selmun and Dingli, while the lowest amount was 78.2 millimetres, at Xewkija, in Gozo.

The wettest day was December 4 with 24.6 millimetres.

The wettest December observed by the Meteorological Office was 1970 with 302.6 millimetres, while the driest was in 1974 with 14.2 millimetres.

Thunderstorms occurred on six days and it hailed on three.

It was, generally speaking, a calmer month so far as wind speed goes, with a mean of eight knots (15km per hour), compared with 9.5 knots (18km per hour) average for the past 30 Decembers.

The highest gusts were 34 knots (63km per hour) one was from the northwest on December 29 and the other from the west on December 31.

The most frequent direction of the wind during the month was the northwest.